SEQUIM — The city’s Planning Commission deadlocked on a residential development Tuesday after three hours of contentious debate and sent it back to the drawing board.
But that’s not where the proposal will end up.
The Cedar Ridge subdivision, a proposed 236-lot development on Sequim’s fast-growing east side, instead will be before the Sequim City Council on Monday for a formal public hearing because a time limit mentioned in state law is quickly running out.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and will take place in the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St.
Council members could approve or deny it, or take no immediate action.
State laws governing the amount of time a project can spend in the approval process make this timeline necessary, said City Attorney Craig Ritchie.
“Time is not on our side,” he said.
“We’re between a rock and a hard place.”
Cedar Ridge Associates wants to develop about 64 acres north of Spyglass Lane and east of Lofgrin Road.
The partners are Allen Grant, who heads the Vancouver, Wash.-based Grant Development, and Larry Freedman, who sits on the Sequim Planning Commission and recused himself from the proceedings.
Commission deadlocked
The Planning Commission could not agree on a recommendation to the City Council.
In comments to the commission, critics voiced concerns about the project’s density and its impacts on traffic, wildlife and quality of life.
One Planning Commission member said the project would set an improper “precedent” in what has been a rural area.
In the end, the commission said the developer and city staff needed to address some of the concerns, particularly those regarding the Sequim elk herd, which have been known to use the property.
They were then to return to the commission.
Commission in flux
There apparently isn’t time for that.
“The commission is in a state of flux right now,” Grant said, noting that there likely will be three new members the next time the body meets, including replacements for two of the people who voted against recommending the subdivision’s approval.
Three people have announced their resignations from the commission since September for unrelated reasons.